FlyClear.com History - Letter from the CEO

When FlyClear.com was in operation, the CEO Steven Brill penned a letter to current and prospective members:

Dear Clear members (and Potential members):

I want to tell you a bit about the background of our company and what Clear® is trying to do.

I started Verified Identity Pass with a simple idea: In the post 9-11 era we have to take new measures to protect ourselves yet not destroy our way of life by strangling the free flow of people and commerce. Somehow, we have to find common sense solutions that don't make everyone a suspect and create security bottlenecks everywhere we go. To be blunt, that means we need a fair, sensible way not to treat everyone the same when it comes to terrorism protection.

Because when it comes to security at an airport or any place else, we have to think about how we allocate scarce resources and time.

Security experts call this idea "risk management," by which they mean they concentrate more on greater threats and less on lesser threats. It does not mean risk elimination. Just because someone has no record of being a threat doesn't mean they might not suddenly become one (which is why you'll still go through the metal detector.)

At Clear, we see ourselves, first and foremost, as exactly that kind of common-sense risk management solution to the security bottlenecks that are the by-product of the post-September 11 world.

Second, we think we have a special responsibility to protect your privacy. Yes, we are using biometric identifiers such as fingerprints and iris images. Yes, your enrollment application will be submitted to the government for a basic security threat assessment before we can issue you a Clear card. But we do not believe the process and the questions stop there. We know that this kind of new idea and new process is bound to make many people uneasy about what we are doing with their personal information, especially at a time when every day seems to bring new headlines about identity theft. I started this company because I thought there was a right way to do something like this - a way that confronted privacy issues head on and embraced uncompromising dedication to privacy protection.

So, I urge you to read our privacy policies and what we believe are the innovative, no-strings-attached ways we've made ourselves strictly and publicly accountable for keeping them. They're in plain English. They're not in small print. In short, they're Clear. And we're as proud of them as we are of anything else about Clear.

Third, we try to be obsessive about customer service. We value your business, indeed your willingness to join us in this new venture. And we're determined to earn your loyalty in many ways - from an always-available pro rata refund, to a state of the art, 24/7 customer call center, to executives like me reaching out to customers at random and calling them (or greeting them at airports) to ask how we are doing. And if we don't deliver on that, please email me directly. As hard as we try, we're bound to make a mistake occasionally. I'd like to hear from you if we do.

Common sense security. Privacy. Obsessive customer service. Everyone at Clear is determined to stand for all of that and more. When you join Clear, we want you to think you're signing on with a new service that has real value – and real values.

Sincerely,

Steven Brill CEO, Verified Identity Pass, Inc.

FlyClear

FlyClear was the first iteration of the Registered Traveler Program for expedited airline security. FlyClear started in 2005 and ceased operations in 2009.